♥♥
 |
| Two menacing, opposite realities seem to be lurking on this poster for Jonas Alexander Arnby's When Animals Dream |
In a fishing village in Jutland, Denmark, a young woman begins working at the fish factory, where she soon gets the attention of the opposite sex. Meanwhile she changes physically, which is somehow connected to her mother ...
When Animals Dream is written by Rasmus Birch (Miss Viborg (2022)) with Christoffer Boe (Allegro (2005)) and debuting co-writer/director Jonas Alexander Arnby (Hjemvendt (2001, short)) contributing ideas. The English title is a literal translation of the original Danish title.
With a not exactly thrilling lead performance (from debuting Sonia Suhl (Søvn (2018)), who seems a bit old for this to work as a puberty fable, (she was 19 while playing 16), When Animals Dream ventures out with a quiet style that's so underplayed and, regrettably, half-baked that one can barely even call this werewolf movie a werewolf movie. Scenes of identification with the protagonist and scenes of terror are missing, and the film also lacks an escalation and a wildness to it.
There are a couple of good scenes: SPOILER In one the girl is pushed down into the fish offal by the factory, and in another she chews on glass in front of her father.
Aesthetically an artistic style has been attempted here, but it is too unclear what is aimed for. As a horror flick, When Animals Dream fails.
Watch a short clip from the film here
Cost: Reportedly 4 mil. €, approximately 4.01 mil. $
Box office: Around 149k $
= Box office disaster (returned 0.03 times its cost)
[When Animals Dream premiered 19 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of main competition) and runs 84 minutes. Shooting took place in Jutland and Copenhagen, Denmark. The film sold just 3,296 tickets in Denmark, which, at an 85 DKK average prize comes to just under 38k $ (25.5 % of the total gross). The film's biggest market was Germany with 81k $ (54.4 %). Denmark was the 2nd biggest, and Argentina was 3rd biggest with 17k $ (11.4 %). The film was screened on a long row of film festivals and also had releases in a few other markets that are not listed on its Box Office Mojo site, likely because the grosses were too negligible. The film won 2/9 Robert awards (Denmark's Oscar), among other honors. Arnby returned with Exit Plan/Suicide Tourist/Selvmordsturisten (2019). Suhl returned in Teenland (2014, short) and theatrically in Søvn (2018). When Animals Dream is fresh at 73 % with a 6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of When Animals Dream?
No comments:
Post a Comment